The Most Perfect Day
by Fictatious
Summary: ‘...This time, together, both of us, we’ll bring him home,’ Sakura whispered, leaning against Naruto and laying her head on his shoulder.


Naruto looked up as Sakura paused just behind him. He could see her smile softly in the fading light as she tilted her head slightly to the side. 'You shouldn't sulk, Naruto,' she said in a quiet, playful voice. 'It makes you look silly.'

Naruto snorted, although he couldn't put much annoyance behind it when she was making that face. 'Like I care about that,' he said.

'Ah, no, you don't care how you look, do you?' Sakura tugged at his orange sleeve, grinning, as she sat down next to him on the mossy ground.

Naruto laughed softly. 'I like orange,' he said in mock offense. 'It's bold.'

Sakura giggled, a light, bell-like sound, and then pressed her lips together, as though attempting to swallow back emotion as she looked down at her knees. 'You shouldn't let him get to you. I thought you were good at not listening to other people?'

Naruto snorted again, his face quickly pulling back into a small scowl. 'That guy's an asshole,' he said flatly.

'And so you shouldn't pay attention to him when he says stupid things. Like how I don't pay attention to you when you say stupid things.' Sakura put on an amused smile again, trying to lighten the conversation again.

'Sakura-chan...' Naruto mumbled her name softly, frowning at the ground in front of his crossed legs. 'Do a lot of people talk about him like that...?'

Sakura bit her lip and stared at the ground. 'Not in public. They learn quickly...'

Naruto looked up at her with a confused frown.

'A lot of us... A lot more than I would have expected, have been careful to correct people's manners,' she explained. At Naruto's look of surprise, she quickly added, 'We don't hurt them or anything. Just make sure they understand that it's impolite to talk about people behind their backs. For example, Lee-san likes to put people on top of trees...'

The corner of Naruto's mouth twitched upwards as though his grin was trying to force its way back through. 'I didn't think Fuzzy-brows liked Sasuke.'

'Uun.' Sakura shook her head, smiling softly. 'He likes you. He said that while you were gone, he would have to make up for your share of energy too.'

Naruto's grin won out and reasserted itself on his face. 'I can always trust Lee.'

'What surprised me, even Shikamaru helped out...' Sakura giggled, putting her hand to her mouth and feeling her cheeks heat up a bit. 'Last year, there was this new rookie that was being an ass and saying some stupid crap, and Shikamaru used a shadow jutsu on him and made him grope Tsunade-sensei!'

Naruto gaped. 'Oh my God! Did he survive?!'

'Just barely!' Sakura said and giggled hysterically for a while. '... Shikamaru only got a warning...'

Naruto nodded, smiling hugely. 'I always liked Tsunade-baachan.' His smile slowly faded in the darkness as the minutes wore on. 'I'm sorry I wasn't there to help,' he said quietly.

'You would have just yelled at people and acted like a little kid.' Sakura shook her head and smiled again, catching his eyes.

Naruto smiled back and nodded again. 'Yeah, you're probably right, Sakura-chan.'

'You can yell when we bring him home.'

'He'll call me "dobe" and tell me to shut up.' Naruto grinned widely, tilting his head back to gaze up at the stars as they slowly gained strength against the darkening sky.

Sakura gave another soft giggle. 'He'll just have to put up with it. He deserves a headache.'

Naruto laughed, but it sounded a little congested.

'...This time, together, both of us, we'll bring him home,' Sakura whispered, leaning against Naruto and laying her head on his shoulder.

Naruto hesitated for a moment and then put his arm around her waist. 'He'll have a hard time not listening to you now. You turned into such a beautiful woman, he won't be able to think when he sees you.'

Sakura's smile widened even as she swallowed against the lump rising in her chest. She didn't bother to argue that Sasuke had always been more interested in Naruto than herself; she didn't feel like fishing for compliments right then. 'You've grown up so much too,' she said softly and closed her eyes as she continued. 'Except your eyes. They haven't changed at all... I'm glad... I'd hate it if they changed.'

She could feel Naruto's pulse speed up a bit and his face turn slightly, trying to look at her. 'I love your eyes,' Sakura whispered. 'They look just like the sky on the very most perfect day.'

'Heh.' Naruto's face grew uncomfortably hot as he fidgeted. 'You're being too nice, Sakura-chan,' he said.

888

'I don't know if I have much to eat...' Naruto said in a dejected tone as he unlocked the door to his apartment.

'I don't know if I'm that hungry,' Sakura said with a shrug.

'... Yeah.' Naruto nodded, stepping inside and holding the door for her. 'Sorry about the mess...'

Sakura shrugged. 'I probably wouldn't clean up much if my mother didn't nag me,' she said.

They ate instant ramen and then sat in silence for a long time, staring at their empty, styrofoam cups, the yellow grease forming a soft crust around the inner rim. 'We will bring him home,' Sakura said softly, breaking the silence. 'I know we will.'

Naruto nodded. 'We just have to keep trying,' he agreed.

'...He's become really strong,' Sakura said, trying to put on a more conversational tone as she stood and picked up their cups off the table. Naruto's eyes followed her movements.

'Yeah...'

'You know,' Sakura said, tilting her head back and smiling just slightly. 'I think maybe he's stronger than Orochimaru... and so... because of that... Orochimaru definitely won't be able to take his body.'

'... Yeah,' Naruto said and actually felt some of the oppressive weight leave his body. 'Sasuke definitely wouldn't let himself lose to somebody weaker than him.'

'Exactly,' Sakura agreed, washing their chopsticks in the sink and going on to the collection of glasses, bowls and cutlery already sitting in and around it. 'So we don't need to worry so much. We just have to keep trying.'

'Yeah.' Naruto nodded, actually managing to smile a little. 'I'm going to get stronger so that I can punch him in the face for being a jerk.'

'Me too,' Sakura laughed very softly, rinsing soap out of a cup.

'You'd better not use that scary punch, or you'll break his face,' Naruto said looking up at her back and grinning.

'I can fix it,' Sakura giggled.

Naruto continued to smile softly as he looked down at his hands sitting on the table. His stomach didn't feel nearly so tight as it had an hour ago.

'... Ne, Naruto?' Sakura asked quietly, continuing to face the sink even after she set the last clean cup upside down to dry. 'Can I stay here a bit longer? My family is so loud, I don't really want to deal with them just yet.'

Naruto looked up at her, feeling slightly startled and uncomfortable. '... Yeah, sure,' he said.

Sakura turned away from the sink and smiled at him in a not-quite-genuine way. 'Thanks,' she said.

888

'Even if I do know where you keep the lock-out key, you should still answer the door when somebody knocks,' Sakura said, looking around the window frame to where Naruto was crouching on the roof tiles.

'I didn't hear it,' Naruto said. 'Besides, like you said, you know where the key is.'

Sakura leaned on the sill and watched Naruto's coat ripple in the breeze for a while. 'You're acting so depressed,' she sighed. 'But Orochimaru is dead, so we don't have to worry about him any more. That's a good thing.'

Naruto nodded.

'... I know Sasuke will come back,' she said, although her voice didn't sound so certain as the words it was saying.

'He's going to fight his brother,' Naruto said quietly, hugging his knees. '... That guy is really strong... and... how do we know Sasuke even means to be alive when it's over...?'

Sakura stared down at her hands and then rubbed them together and stood up straight. 'Come inside, Naruto. I brought katsuyaki.'

888

'I know how,' Sakura said quietly, her cheek pressed against Naruto's shoulder.

'What?' she could feel him shift as though to look at her in the darkness.

'How we know that Sasuke is going to come back from fighting his brother,' she elaborated, her hand fisting loosely around a bit of Naruto's nightshirt.

'How?'

'That first day, remember? He said that his goals were to kill a certain man, and also to revive the Uchiha clan.' Sakura pursed her lips and squirmed a little closer to Naruto. She felt him pull away slightly, but was relieved to realize he was rolling onto his side to hug her.

'He did say that, didn't he...' Naruto whispered, and she could hear relief in his voice.

'He did. And so that's how we know that he's going to come back.' Sakura nodded and sniffled, tucking her head under Naruto's chin.

888

'Naruto's really nice,' Ino said, leaning back against the fence and looking up into the sky. 'He's always liked you, hasn't he?'

'Yeah.' Sakura nodded, unrolling a scroll in her lap. 'I don't know why. I was pretty mean to him.'

'He's a really good guy.' Ino smiled at her, but Sakura was looking at the scroll, memorizing the ingredients listed on it. 'I think you two look good together.'

'Do you think if you say that then I'll let you have Sasuke?' Sakura cast her a challenging smirk before turning back to the scroll. 'We're not giving up on him,' she said more softly.

Ino looked down at her silently for a while, a pained look on her face. She watched as Sakura unrolled more of the scroll. She never took a day off studying or training. After hesitating a moment longer, Ino leaned down and wrapped her arms around Sakura's shoulders, hugging her from the side.

Sakura looked up in surprise. 'Ino?'

'You really are very strong, Sakura,' Ino whispered near her shoulder.

888

'I don't get it...' Naruto said, pouring hot water for the tea and instant miso.

'What's that?' Sakura asked, not looking up as she scooped rice out of the cooker.

'We're both fighting Akatsuki, right? So why can't we do it together?' he set the kettle on the tile and then stared at the teapot, as though it would hold some answers.

Sakura bit her lip and shut the rice-cooker's lid. She carried the two bowls of rice to the table and set them down next to the chopsticks that were already there. 'Maybe... maybe because he doesn't want to use you...' Sakura said quietly, her brow furrowed.

'Use me?' Naruto frowned, carrying the teapot and cups over.

'They want you... They want Kyuubi, and so then, to them, you would be bait. And Sasuke wouldn't want to use you that way.' Sakura went back to the counter for the miso as Naruto sat down, scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully.

'... Do you think so?' he asked in a small, hesitant voice, turning his pleading, blue eyes on her.

Sakura stood there, looking back down at him until the hot miso bowls started to burn her fingers and she had to set them down. '... I think it sounds reasonable... Maybe it is... because he's protecting us...'

'... Stupid Sasuke,' Naruto said quietly and Sakura looked up to see him starting to eat his breakfast with a small smile. 'He always underestimates me.'

888

'Is Sakura-chan your girlfriend?'

Naruto stared blankly at Sai for a moment before swallowing the noodles hanging out of his mouth. 'Huh?' he asked.

Sai pulled a number of comic books out of his backpack, picking a few to lay out on the counter in front of him. Naruto would never forgive Ino for introducing Sai to shoujo manga. 'You're always sitting together and talking to each other and she spends the night at your house a lot of the time,' Sai elaborated. 'And I thought that would mean that she's your girlfriend.'

Naruto's jaw dropped slightly and his face reddened in a mix of embarrassment and anger. 'Have you been spying on us?' It really didn't seem likely that Sakura would have mentioned to Sai her frequent stays in Naruto's apartment and he certainly hadn't.

Sai blinked and his face went very blank and expressionless. '... No.' he said carefully.

'You asshole!' Naruto shouted. 'What the hell is wrong with you?!' His ramen miraculously forgotten, Naruto tossed down his napkin and pushed away from the counter. 'It's none of your goddamned business!'

Sai watched him storm away and then started flipping through the comic books. He'd discovered that they contained everything one could ever want to know about human emotion, he just had to find the right one...

888

'... I think people might be saying things about us...' Naruto said, blushing and fidgeting.

Sakura looked over her shoulder at him as she brushed her hair. 'Are they saying things that aren't true?'

'... I don't know...' He shrugged. 'Just that they may have the wrong idea about it... Sai asked if you were my girlfriend.'

Sakura chuckled. 'He's just jealous. He wants you for himself.'

'... Ewww...' Naruto grimaced and flopped down face-first into his pillow.

Sakura laughed and set her brush down. 'Aw, Sai's pretty though!'

'No, he's so creepy!' Naruto pushed himself up on his elbows and shook his head vigorously.

Sakura laughed again and sat down next to him on the futon, running her fingers through Naruto's hair. He sighed and flopped forward again. 'So does that mean I'm prettier?'

Naruto said something into the pillow that sounded like a strong affirmative. Sakura hummed to herself, smiling gently as she continued petting Naruto's hair. After a while his head turned to the side towards her, though his eyes stayed closed.

'... I know you're joking, but still I feel like saying it. It doesn't matter if I fight with Sai or even if he becomes my friend, he's never going to be the same as Sasuke,' Naruto said quietly.

'I know,' Sakura said, shifting to lay down nose to nose with him.

'I'll never give up on him.'

'We'll never give up.' Sakura stroked Naruto's cheek and his eyes opened to look into hers. 'On all of us.'

888

'It doesn't matter if people have the wrong impression,' Sakura said, scooping rice into two bowls. 'People always have the wrong impression, don't they?'

'... I was worried that you wouldn't like it...' Naruto said, blushing. 'Because you're Sasuke's girl.'

'Fine. I'm Sasuke's girl and you can be mine,' Sakura said, setting down the rice and going back for the tea.

'Your girl?' Naruto cast a grin over his shoulder.

'Or boy, or whatever,' Sakura waved dismissively and then wandered back over to hug Naruto from behind.

'Is Sasuke my girl then?' Naruto asked, grinning wider.

'I think he'd hit you if you said that,' Sakura giggled.

Naruto laughed. 'I think so too.'

Sakura grinned, her cheek pressed against Naruto's back. 'So it doesn't matter what impression people have. We'll shock them all. It'll be more fun that way.'

'That does sound like fun,' Naruto agreed. 'And then, we can all be a family together, and eat fried eggs for breakfast.'

'Hmm, if you don't burn them.'

'I'm not burning them!' Naruto protested and maneuvered a spatula under one of the eggs to flip it over.

888

'Welcome home.'

He probably should have felt something, felt pained or happy by those words, echoed by two pairs of smiling lips, but all he seemed to feel was dazed. He blinked dumbly a few times before remembering the appropriate response.

'I'm home,' he whisptered softly and then shook his head, trying to clear it. '... Sorry. I'm so tired.'

'Mm, yeah,' Naruto agreed, holding the door. 'I can't believe Tsunade-baachan kept us so long... I would have thought an old lady like her would need a lot of sleep.'

'We'll see how much sleep you get when you're Hokage,' Sakura said in a teasing voice as she finally let go of Sasuke's arm. 'Go ahead and take a bath, Sasuke. I'll get dinner ready for when you're done.'

'... Okay... thanks...' Sasuke mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.

'You can borrow some of my clothes, but you don't get to complain about the color,' Naruto said, casting a grin over his shoulder.

'Complain about it!' Sakura yelled from the kitchen. 'He's going to get himself killed standing out like a parrot when he's supposed to be hiding!'

'Hey, hey! This from the lady in red!' Naruto's voice shouted back as Sasuke leaned against a wall, feeling rather dazed.

A moment later Naruto came back into the hall with a pile of clothes and a towel. 'Take your time, just don't fall asleep in the bath,' he said with a warm smile, holding the bundle of fabric out to Sasuke.

Sasuke accepted it but remained still for a moment, just staring blankly back at Naruto's face before pushing away from the wall. He stepped into Naruto and let his head fall against the other man's shoulder and then just stood there, breathing in the smell of stale sweat, grass-stains, dirt, blood and Naruto's individual scent.

He could feel Naruto's hand stroke over his hair and a soft kiss being placed against his neck as he sighed. 'You'd better not fall asleep standing up, Sasuke,' Naruto said quietly next to his ear. 'You haven't even eaten dinner yet.'

Sasuke nodded, pulling away slowly and rocking slightly on his feet. 'Thanks,' he whispered, hugging the clean clothes against him and turning toward an open door that he could see tiled floor through.

Sasuke leaned against the back of the door for a while, staring blankly at the tiled room. He felt confused, but not in any practical sense of the word. Everything around him made sense.

There was a basket to his left that he was meant to put his towel and change of clothes into. There was a hamper to the right that he was meant to put his mostly-ruined clothes into. There was a bath stool, there was a showerhead, there was a counter with various bottles and a bar of soap on it. There was a bathtub with a cover on it, keeping it warm. All of this made perfect sense. He was washing up and having a bath. That was not complicated.

Okay, step back. He was home. Konoha. Naruto's apartment. That was a little confusing, maybe. Naruto had said he was taking him home, like it was the most natural thing in the world, and then he'd done it. That was confusing, but it was the same sort of confusing that Naruto had always been.

That wasn't why his brain felt like it was filled with static. That wasn't what was making him stare blankly at himself in the low mirror as he washed some crusted blood (not his) off his shoulder. No, that wasn't it.

He looked down at the washrag in his hand, now a hue somewhere between pink and red with pieces of brownish-purple scattered through it.

He'd killed his brother.

He'd killed the only relative he had. The only person left who shared his blood.

He should have been hysterically happy. Or maybe just hysterical. He should have felt something. Relief? Remorse? Fulfillment?

Instead he just felt numb.

His mind, his body, all of him felt numb.

If he pinched himself, he could feel it. He wasn't numb; he just felt that way. That didn't make any sense and he knew it.

After he'd scrubbed the last of the dried blood off his skin, Sasuke pulled the cover off the bathtub and sank into the hot water. It made the confusion in his head feel more like a fever-dream, which was somewhat comforting. At least it was more familiar.

The door opened and Sasuke raised his head out of the water to look over the side of the bathtub. Naruto grinned, tilting his head to the side a bit. 'Sakura says she wants me to get cleaned up now so that she can make me do the dishes after dinner,' he explained. 'And she also said because she doesn't trust me with fish.'

'... I think it involves more than pouring in boiling water and waiting three minutes.' Sasuke said in an emotionless voice.

'I can cook lots of things!' Naruto pulled off his coat and shirt together, not bothering to unzip the former.

Sasuke folded his arms on the side of the tub and rested his chin on top of them. 'For some reason, I don't think you use lilac shampoo,' he commented, his eyes resting on the shower basket.

'It's Sakura's.'

'Have you been living together long?' Sasuke asked, feeling a prickle of jealousy, though for whom, he wasn't sure.

'Not officially,' Naruto said, kicking the shower stool away from the wall and sitting down. 'She just usually stays here more than she stays at her parent's house,' he explained as he turned on the shower and wet his hair, pleased that there was already hot water up in the taps.

'How scandalous,' Sasuke said. 'How long have you been a couple?'

'Mm, I don't know.' Naruto shrugged, biting his lip. 'We've never called ourselves that.'

'What do you call yourselves?'

'... An incomplete ménage en tois,' Naruto said quietly and rinsed the suds out of his hair.

Sasuke stared silently at Naruto's back, his mouth open slightly as though to say something, though he wasn't sure what.

After a long pause, while rubbing soap into the washrag, Naruto glanced over his shoulder and grinned in a way that obviously meant to cover anxiety. 'It's your own fault if you're behind, Sasuke. That's what you get for failing to show up to meetings.'

888

Falling asleep, flanked on either side by soft, warm bodies, sharing one quilt and two pillows, was indescribable bliss. Perhaps it was because of this that Sasuke felt so empty when he woke up alone.

He turned his head to look up at the window, which light was desperately trying to get through around the thick shade. He looked towards the door in the other direction when he heard the sound of bell-like laughter somewhere beyond.

Sasuke stretched as he unsteadily climbed to his feet and yawned. The pants he'd borrowed from Naruto were slung over the back of a chair near the door and he fetched them, his muscles reminding him painfully of the last few days. He could hear Naruto's voice through the door, though the words were blurred away by the obstruction.

'Good morning,' Sakura's voice greeted him warmly as he stepped into the kitchen.

'Ah! Good morning, Sasuke!' Naruto called more energetically from the stove, where he was frying eggs.

'Morning...' Sasuke mumbled, stepping closer to Sakura to see what she had in her lap.

It was a new-looking, black jacket. Sasuke's mouth fell open slightly, though the only sound he managed to make was an odd, little squeak in the back of his throat as he recognized the image she was carefully stitching onto the back of it.

The Uchiha fan.

He felt something breaking somewhere inside his chest. Or maybe it was being repaired; he wasn't sure. The static in his brain suddenly switched off and he felt like he'd been punched very hard.

Sasuke's hand unconsciously rose to his trembling lip. He bit his finger, but it didn't stop the choked sobbing sound from escaping his mouth. Sakura looked up, her eyebrows pulled together in concern. Sasuke leaned against the wall for support, but his legs weren't cooperating and he felt himself slowly sinking to the floor.

'Sasuke...' Sakura said quietly, setting her sewing aside and moving to kneel next to him.

'... I'm sorry...' Sasuke whispered and sobbed again. He could hear the click of the stove being turned off and a moment later Naruto was next to him too. '... I'm sorry...' he repeated.

The missing emotions from the previous day all seemed to be bombarding him similtaniously now. Why should a crest he'd worn every day of his life be affecting him like this?

A crest that he hadn't watched anyone else sew into his clothing since his mother's murder. Since he had a family.

Sakura slid an arm around his neck and Naruto wove their fingers together. 'Shhh,' one of them said. Naruto kissed his forehead as Sakura cuddled against his collarbone.

'I couldn't... If I'd stayed, I couldn't...' Sasuke could feel the hot tears slipping unchecked down his face. '... I would have lost my hate... My parents... I couldn't let them...'

'Shhh,' Naruto breathed next to his ear. 'This is our new beginning.'

888

'Naruto,' Sakura said, shading her eyes with her left hand as her right firmly held Sasuke's. 'The sky matches your eyes today!'

Naruto and Sasuke both looked up at the blue expanse, their hand's similarly twined. 'Yeah, I guess it does,' Naruto said in a slightly baffled voice.

'Because today is the very most perfect day!' Sakura reminded him, beaming.

Naruto's lips widened into a large grin as he turned back to her, Sasuke glancing back and forth between them, confused. 'Yeah, it definitely is.'


End file.
